Matt. 7:24-27, “Everyone who hears these words of mind and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came…and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The ‘rock’ in view is Jesus’ words—specifically the words He has just spoken during the sermon on the mount. To hear Jesus’ teaching and *obey* what He says is likened to building one’s house upon an immovable rock.
Just as it is not enough to pass by a rock and appreciate its strength while going to build your house on the sand, so too it is not enough to hear Jesus’ words and agree with them, or be moved by them, or be passionate about them. No, we must hear His words and *do* them. The *doing* is the building; stability of life is found in *obedience.*
In this text, the unshakable stability that weathers life’s storms is obedience. Would we be stable? Would we be unshaken by the tumults of this life? Would we have a fixed ‘home’ in which to live while all the world falls into the sea? Then let us hear the words of Jesus and do what He says. Obedience is the path of peace.
But if Jesus’ teaching is the rock, why do I here picture Jesus Himself as the rock? Because ultimately, what Jesus commands is nothing other than who He is. His words are a rock because HE is the Rock and they flow from Him.
The commands of God in Christ flow from the character of God in Christ, such that they are nothing other than that character applied to the lives of His people. Supremely, this character is revealed in Jesus’ self-giving love from the cross—all obedience is ultimately nothing other than a conforming to who God has declared Himself to be in the crucified Jesus who is risen.
So, in today’s image, Jesus Himself—known and hidden in through obedience to His commands—is pictured as the Rock who stands unmoved amidst the life-shattering storms of this world. The Bride’s obedience to His words is pictured as her taking refuge in His side since all obedience is, in the end, clinging to and living out the cross-work of Christ.
